Exchange USA - X-Change Reciprocal

[TOAD6147]

A friend made a successful (Yahoo!) bid on one of these (not sure why he wants this one except he's heavy into photograpy/graphics) and I wanted to help him figure the odds of getting a good deal without getting screwed.
The company offering this is called Tampa Exchange, USA Inc. His contact is Edward McNichol. He doesn't accept any type of payment except Cashier's checks or US money orders. The payment is to be made payable to this individual and mailed to:
X-Change Reciprocal Services, LLC
490 Fallon Rd.
Petalum, CA 94952-9655 Tele: 800-896-2142
The price is $1495.00 and includes shipping, et al. The website for this company is http://exchange-usa.com. I told him I doubt that I would buy from someone who didn't take a credit card and was showing me a price 1/2 of the going rate. I would be most concerned myself. Anybody have comments, sugestions or other helpful ideas/ Please advise and TIA.

[Undeadlord]

I wouldn't do it .. with a credit card company atleast you can contest the charges ... money order or check .. you are SOL if it goes down wrong.

Is this a brand new Powerbook? or a used one? Just curious.

Also is the check to X-change Reciprocal Services, or this Edward guy? if it it to the edward guy .. I would be VERY leery.

Undeadlord

Well, a traceroute on http://exchange-usa.com resolves the doman name to the European Internet Registry (IP: 213.239.44.116) network and it's location is the Netherlands.

I do not see them listed on ResellerRatings either here or here

Tampa Exchange, USA, Inc and X-Change Services are not a member of the BBB (Better Business Bureau) nor are they in their database http://search.bbb.org/results.html

A listing for X-Change Reciprocal Services was found at the BBB with an address at 2900 Vassar Ste. 307,
Reno, NV 89502.

More info on X-Change Reciprocal Services:

http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cache...&hl=en&ie=UTF8

http://www.corp.ca.gov/pressrel/nr0204.htm

You may want to try contacting one or more of these agencies to get more info, but from reading it doesn't look like a good bet - good luck

oh.. moved to the General Discussion & Buyer Guide forum!

[TOAD6147]

Thanks for the replies. I knew it looked too good to be true and it usually is. But all this friend can see is getting a Mac for half price and not the risks involved from dealing in such a way. I fear I won't be able to deter him from getting hooked. In the meantime, is there anyway to get more info on this Tampa Exchange/exchange-usa outfit? And how would this scam work? We know the holding company is probably dirty but how would this Edward McNichol benefit from the 'partnership'?

[TOAD6147]

Undeadlord, to answer your questions, yes, it "supposed" to be new and yes, the check is supposed to be made out to Edward McNichol. Also, I just learned that my friend was solicited by this guy AFTER he made an unsuccessful bid of $1700 for the same type computer in a Yahho! auction. It gets worse by the momment.

[Geotpf]

These guys must be crooks. I mean, $129 for a X-Box, two controllers, a carrying case, the DVD remote, *AND* Halo??? Either they are selling stuff for a 50% loss, or the people buying stuff are about to suffer a 100% loss.

http://exchange-usa.com/~exchange/cg...cgi/00017.html

If it looks too good to be true...it is.

[Geotpf]

This doesn't look good either...this is the verisign whois records for the domain. Note the P. O. Box for an address, the incomplete phone number, the lycos.com e-mail address as the contact, the lack of an actual, full name of the contact, and the fact that the domain is only six weeks old. Plus the fact it's located in neither California or Nevada, but Utah.

Registrant:
RJ LLC (EXCHANGE-USA-COM-DOM)
PO BOX 1269
Orem, UT 84059
USA
801-785-
richard91302@lycos.com

Domain Name: EXCHANGE-USA.COM

Administrative Contact:
RJ LLC richard91302@lycos.com
PO BOX 1269
Orem, UT 84059
USA
801-785-

Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
RJ LLC richard91302@lycos.com
PO BOX 1269
Orem, UT 84059
USA
801-785-

Record last updated on 21-Apr-2002.
Record expires on 21-Apr-2003.
Record created on 21-Apr-2002.

Domain servers in listed order:

NS.DOTCOMAVENUE.COM 209.61.128.24
NS2.DOTCOMAVENUE.COM 209.61.128.25


The previous information has been obtained either directly from the
registrant or a registrar of the domain name other than VeriSign.
VeriSign, therefore, does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.

What happened with this TOAD?

[Geotpf]

He's around. He posted here: http://www.resellerratings.com/forum...343#post259343 at 1:59 PM. I'm curious as to if his friend actually sent these crooks some money.

[TOAD6147]

Socal,
Based on the info you dug up my wife and I convinced him not to do business with this person. Thanks loads for you help.